


See how things have changed

by huffletiika



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, F/M, Gendry being legitimazed, Modern Era, Reunions, Time Skips, Westeros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-05-18 16:18:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19338118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huffletiika/pseuds/huffletiika
Summary: Five years ago, Arya went with her family to spend their summer vacations in his father's best friend manor. There, she met the very tall stable boy, to whom she easily became close, spending most of her days going around the lands with him. But then, when the summer was over she had to go back home, not knowing if she would see him again.Now, she is older, and her whole family is reuniting at home for the holidays... even Jon, who arrives with a friend who has a couple of beautiful blue eyes that bring back beautiful childhood memories to her, and other feelings that she isn't capable of contain anymore.





	1. Blue Eyes

When her cousin Jon had told her that he was coming home from the university of Castle Black, where he was studying to become something related with national security (which name she couldn’t remember because it was way too long), to spend the holidays with the family, she freaked out.

Growing up they were inseparable.

Her aunt Lyanna Stark died due to preeclampsia after giving birth to him, and his father had died months earlier serving the country, so Eddard Stark (her father) had raised him as one of his children since he was barely one day old. For that reason, he had always been like one of her siblings, taking care of and teaching her to do things that according to her mother a _girl_ shouldn’t be doing, like fencing or climbing trees or going around in a motorbike, and becoming her favorite person in the world, after her father, obviously.

Of course, she was also close with her other brothers and sister, even if there was a time when she wanted to make a test to be sure if she and Sansa were actually related, as there was no way that snooty girl could share her same ADN.

Her brothers were more like her. Robb, being the eldest, was always very serious and rightful, but she always saw him chuckle after seeing her do some mischief; Bran had an accident when he was eleven that left him paralyzed from the hip down, but before that he was his partner in crime. Nowadays, he spends more time at the library and his room than outside. And Rickon, who is many years younger than her, has always been very affectionate with her, giving her big bear hugs, and playing with her using cardboard swords.

Yeah, she and Sansa were responsible of all the _drama_  that happened in Winterfell Manor.

But, going back to her favorite cousin coming home, she had been very excited for the last two weeks, since she knew the news. She went to talk to the people in the kitchen, to tell them to make Jon’s favorite dish for the day he would arrive, made sure his room was arranged and clean, and his favorite horse washed and shod.

When she arrived home, after going down to the town to get Jon’s favorite plain chocolate cupcakes from Hot Pie’s Bakery, she found Robb nosing around the kitchen, bothering the poor people who worked there.

He looked glad when he saw the box on her hands.

“Uh, great,” he said, approaching her. “What do you have there?”

She put the box behind her back.

“No, these are for Jon,” she said, and he looked very hurt.

“You never do these kinds of things for me,” he said, overreacting.

“Because I see you almost every day, idiot” she said, giving a slap on his hand when he tried to steal a cupcake, and putting the box at the counter. “Besides, aren’t you in some kind of diet? Jeyne told me you are trying to lose the _dad_ belly” she teased him, poking his stomach. Of course, he wasn’t _fat_ , the older Stark sibling had a body anyone could envy, he just wasn’t as fit as he was before his wife gave birth to their first child, as gym time had to be replaced by taking care of their baby boy.

“No, I’m not,” he said, frowning, and taking his hand to his stomach. “Did she actually say that?” he asked, and she just laughed.

It’s always fun to annoy him.

 

From the window of her room, she saw her cousin’s car as it crossed the big gate that guarded the manor, and ran downstairs to be there when he came out from it, almost making her older sister throw her phone (which she was using) as they collided in the hallways.

“Could you be more careful?” she shouted at her back as she continued running, and Arya just flipped her off from the distance. She didn’t have the time to stop and have an argument with the redhead.

If her sister replied to the gesture she didn’t listen.

When she opened the front door, she saw her cousin getting out of his car, and she couldn’t help but running and throwing herself in his arms. And he received her there, tightening the embrace, and giving her a kiss on her forehead while saying how much he missed her.

They stayed like that for a while, until someone put a hand on her shoulder.

“You know, I would also like to greet my cousin,” said Robb, and she reluctantly pulled away.

“Stark” said Jon, smiling at the older sibling.

“Snow” replied her brother, with a huge smile, and both men embraced each other.

Arya looked away, not wanting to get into _their_ moment, and only then she noticed the other guy who was taking a suitcase from the trunk of the car. He seemed _familiar,_ like she had seen him somewhere, but she couldn’t remember where.

“Put that suitcase down, Gen” her brother told the guy, who immediately did as had been told. “There are people here who are paid for that, don’t steal their jobs” he added, in a very joyful tone that let her know they knew each other for a while, and then went to hug him as well. “It’s nice to see you” he added, palming his back and pulling away, and only then he looked up at her and she finally saw his ridiculously blue eyes.

 

Memories hit her immediately.

She was staying at Robert Baratheon’s (her father’s best friend) beach manor in Storm’s End during the summer, with her parents, her sister and her little brothers. Robb and Jon hadn’t gone with them, as they had plans to spend their vacations with friends.

That day she had been bored as fuck, her parents where somewhere with Baratheon and his wife (now ex-wife), Rickon was too small to be a good companion, and Bran had had his accident only months before so was most of the time at his room. Sansa wasn’t even an option, she was in _stupid_ mode for Baratheon’s older son, who ended up being an idiot who broke her heart.

Arya had broken the boy’s nose after that, not because she cared about Sansa, but because she was her sister, and the pack always has each other’s back.

Anyway, that day she had nothing to do, so she walked to the stables to look for a horse to ride around the property, as she had learnt to do it since she was very young. There was where she saw those blue eyes for the first time. The only person who was in there was a boy around her cousin’s age, wearing work clothes, and with his black hair disheveled and sweaty from working with the horses. And, for the first time, she had been left speechless.

“Aren’t you too young to be around here alone?” the boy had said, scanning her.

“I-” she cleared her throat. “I’m not, I’m thirteen” she replied, and he raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

“And that's being old?” he asked, and then continued his work.

She felt the fury grow inside her. Yes, she wasn’t a tall model-material girl like her sister, but that didn’t give him the right to make fun of her.

He followed him.

“You know you are a big jerk, right?” she said, as she approached him, having to look up to see his face. He smiled down at her.

“I’m sorry M’lady, I didn’t intend to offend you” he said, looking at her with a frown.

“Don’t call me that, I’m not a lady” she claimed, and he crossed his arms. He looked like he was trying very hard to understand her, but then shook his head and led out a soft giggle.

“Then I would need a name to call you” he said, looking at her eyes with curiosity.

They stayed silent for a while, looking at each other until she sighed.

“I’m Arya, but you can call me Arry,” she said, a soft smile leaning on the edge of her lips. He smiled back at her, and offered her his hand after cleaning it on his denim pants. “Gendry” he said, as she shook his hand.

 

“You okay?” his cousin asked with concern, putting his hand over her shoulders, and bringing her back to reality.

“Yeah, I just… I was thinking about something”, she said, and then looked at Gendry, who was staring at her with a smug smile. His cousin gave her a pat on her head, and laughed.

“Always with the head at the clouds”, he said, and then looked at his friend. “Let me introduce you my amazing cousin Arya, she might look like an angry ferret but she’s actually really nice. Sis, this is my roommate, Gendry.” He said, gesturing at the guy, who approached them.

“We actually know each other” he said, with the same cocky smile “Right, Arry?” he added rising his eyebrows, challenging her to say otherwise, and she rolled her eyes.

“Yes, we do”, she said, before throwing herself at his arms.

When they parted away she looked at her brother and cousin, and their expressions were priceless.

She wished she had had a camera to capture that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know where this came from... really. This is my first Gendrya work, and I'm really nervous about publishing it, but is a story that I really want to tell. Also, english is not my first language, so I'm sorry if there are some mistakes. I hope you like this.


	2. Storm's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years ago, Arya went with her family to spend their summer vacations in his father's best friend manor. There, she met the very tall stable boy, to whom she easily became close, spending most of her days going around the lands with him. But then, when the summer was over she had to go back home, not knowing if she would see him again.
> 
> Now, she is older, and her whole family is reuniting at home for the holidays... even Jon, who arrives with a friend who has a couple of beautiful blue eyes that bring back beautiful childhood memories to her, and other feelings that she isn't capable of contain anymore.
> 
> \------
> 
> Where we go back in time,
> 
> Arya distracts Gendry from his job,
> 
> Gendry shows her his old half-repared bike,
> 
> and they talk about family and loss.
> 
> \--------
> 
> This chapter is a little flashback where we see a little about how they became friends.
> 
> And, maybe, a little warning! for language.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“You know I have a lot of work to do, right?” he asked, as she sat at the bench, looking at him while he bathe one of the horses. He was shirtless and wet and she was having thoughts a thirteen years old shouldn’t be having, but she didn’t want to leave the stables and go back to the house, not after the big fight she and Sansa had had that morning.

A couple of weeks had passed since they met each other, and they had been spending as much time as possible since then.

Without anyone of her family knowing, of course.

She had told him about her family, about how much she wanted to be some kind of modern adventurer when she is older, and used him as a cathartic release for all her frustrations about having to handle with Sansa and the Baratheon children.

He wasn’t telling her much about his life, just that he had been lucky to get that job, and that’s all. Nothing about his family, if he had one, or about anything… at all. It was exasperating.

During his shifts, she would see him do his work, and occasionally make some conversation about the things they liked, or the events of that day. But, when he was free, they would get a couple of horses and go riding through the property, sometimes getting to the beach, and sitting by the shore to talk or play some games. They even got in the water sometimes, so they had to walk back to the manor, so they got time to dry themselves. 

“I know”, she said, before biting the apple she had in her hands.

“So, you know you are distracting me, right?”, he added, without looking at her. _Not more than you are distracting me_ , she thought.

“I’m just keeping you informed about the gossiping from the manor”, she said, shrugging, as her eyes went down to his defined abdomen. She shook her head and looked somewhere else. “You should be thanking me”.

He would tell her he wasn’t any interested in the rich people lives, but he didn’t want to sound rude, as she was one of them.

“Well, thanks… but I need to do my work”, he said, finally looking at her. “Don’t you have anything else to do?” he asked, and she shrugged. No, there was nothing, indeed.

Her parents were in the manor, but as much as she knows they and Rickon were sleeping. Her sister went to the town with the stupid Joffrey Baratheon and his siblings, and Bran was at the library.

“Well, what if you help me?” he asked, offering her the sponge.

She jumped from the bench, a sneaky smile on her face.

“This is your job, and you’re trying to bribe me into doing it for you?”, she said, but the way she did it let him know she was just teasing. “Wow! Just, wow!” she continued, and he rolled his eyes.

“You wouldn’t be doing it _for_ me, you would be doing it _with_ me”, he insisted. “There’s a difference”.

Her smile grew bigger, but still didn’t take the sponge.

“Come on, Arry!”, he said, after a laugh. “think about it this way: you help me, so I can finish earlier, and show you the bike I’ve been working on…”

She took the sponge in no time.

 

They entered to his place later that day, which was a small barn placed some meters away from the big manor, he had adapted to fit his room and his workshop in.

When he arrived to work at that place he had been put in one of the servant’s room inside the manor, but it didn’t feel right, he wanted to have a place where he could stay up at night, and work at things he was interested. That’s how a couple of weeks later he found the abandoned barn, and he let himself fantasize about turning this into his home, but it hadn’t been easy.

He had talked with the foreman about it, telling him all his plans on the abandoned place, and how he would be the one to do all the work and pay for the materials so they didn’t have to do anything, or spend any money.

At first, he had been reluctant about it, saying him that he couldn’t have such privilege over the rest of the employees. But then Jon Arryn, the guy who hired him, had come to the manor to supervise some of their work, and he had showed some special interest on him feeling _comfortable_ working there, so he took his shot and shyly told him about his idea. He knew it had been disrespectful to ask such thing to the man who was almost like his boss, being the hand of Baratheon, that he should had kept his mouth shout, but he thought it was an amazing idea, and let him do what he wanted to do with the place.

 “Nice place”, Arya said, looking around with admiration, and he had smiled with pride. He had made that place himself, and he was proud of it. Arryn had offered to pay for the materials and the workforce to make that place work, but Gendry told him he wanted to do it by himself, and after a long pause his employer had finally nodded.

“Thanks”, he replied, and brought her a towel. They were soaked wet after bathing the horse (which included a small war with the hose), and she was trembling. “Here, take it”, he said, offering the piece of cloth for her. “You should have gone to your room instead of coming down here, you need to change your clothes, or you’ll catch a cold”, he added, and she shook her head, as she covered herself with the towel.

“You promised it”, she said, her stubbornness showing. “So, I’m not leaving until I take a look at the bike”, she added, and then crossed her arms.

 _Seven hells_ , how did he end up befriending this girl?

“Ok, right”, he finally said, and then walked to the small stove he had in the barn, putting some water to boil. Maybe if she had some hot drink she won’t end up terribly ill for the next couple of weeks.

“Wow,” she said, crouched next to his bike, looking at the engine. It was a 1976 BMW R60/5 he had bought to a guy in the town, which would have been very expensive if it wasn’t very ruined. He had spent his free time since then to fix it, but many of his savings had gone to motorcycle parts, and there was still a lot of work to do to make it safe to ride. “you’re doing an amazing work”, she added, and started talking with technical works he didn’t know she knew.

“How you know about motorcycles?” he asked, handing her a cup of tea.

“My cousin loves them”, she explained and took a sip of her tea. Jon would always take her to these events where people talked about cars and motorcycles behind her mother’s back, as Catelyn Stark has never supported her younger’s daughter likes.

Getting up, she started to walk around the room. There was a small bed that could only fit his huge body, a little kitchen area that had only the essential: an electric oven, a rusty mini-bar, and some few cupboards. There was also a small bathroom from where he had fetched the towel, and the space where they were that looked more like a workshop. It was amazing.

“How did you get such place?” she asked sipping from her cup, and he shrugged, looking like the question had taken him by surprise.

“Would you believe me if I tell you that I asked nicely?” he shrugged, and she looked at him in disbelief. Just like that?  

“You’re kidding me, right?” she said, and he shook his head. He still couldn’t understand why Mr. Arryn was so nice with him, when he was kind of shitty with most of the people at the service. The cooker, an old man who was much older than him, once told him that it might be because he reminded him to himself when he was younger. He still couldn’t think why that was a reason to treat him nicely, unless… nah, it couldn’t be.

 

“So, what’s the thing with the horse guy?” her brother asked her the next morning, as they had breakfast together in the terrace. She almost choke, as she was eating something at the moment he did such question, so he had to put the cup back at the table while trying to stop coughing.

“What with him?” she asked, with hoarse voice.

“That’s what I asked, don’t steal my questions” Bran said, with a soft smile. “I’ve seen you two spending a lot of time together”.

“You _saw_ us?” she looked at him, confused.

He laughed.

“When you are attached to a chair, you have a lot of time to pay attention to what happens around you”, he explained, with a shrug, before sipping from his cup. “I saw you the other day, you were washing one of the horses… and then didn’t come back to the manor”, he explained, and she went full red.

Arya didn’t want to say. It wasn’t like they had done something, because they didn’t, but the way her brother said it… what if he tells mom? He wouldn’t do that, right? She looked at her brother with concern.

“We are JUST friends” she says, biting her lower lip. “I mean, kind of… I don’t know. I like him, you know, as friends. But, he might not feel the same way about me”, she looks down at her plate, pushing a grape with her fork.

She didn’t know if he spent time with her because that’s what he wanted to do, or because he was way too polite not to tell the annoying northern girl who was always bothering him to fuck off.

“I believe someone who is capable to get along with you for that long must definitely like you,” he cheered her up, putting his hand on top of the one she had above the table and squeezing it.

She rolled her eyes, and he smiled.

“Also, I totally understand why you are so eager to spend time with him. I mean-”, he took one of his hands to his own legs, and his smile faded. “It’s not like I’ve been a good company”.

She stood, and went to hug him.

“Don’t ever say that! You’re an amazing company!” she said, tightening the embrace.

“I know you say it because I’m your brother” He said, but closed his eyes and smiled. “Anyway, thanks”, he added in a small whisper.

 

“You’re an idiot” she said, laughing, as she stood from the bed, where she had been while he was working on his bike. He took a look at her while cleaning the blood his finger with his shirt.

“Yeah, of course you would have a laugh from my disgrace” He was trying to put some new part of the bike he had received that morning, but didn’t notice some pointy thing at the package, and cut his finger. “It fuckin’ hurts!” he added with a grimace.

She rolled her eyes.

“Correction: you’re such a baby”, she gently took his hand trying to ignore the funny feeling in her guts that came from her touching him, and checked the cut carefully. “It’s not even profound, you won’t need stitches. Just cleaning it and putting a Band-Aid. You have a first-aid kit, right?” she asked, because she wasn’t in the mood to drag him to the manor, and he nodded.

“At the bathroom” he replied, and she rushed there, instructing him to take a seat on his bed. Ok, not her best idea after having fantasied about _him_ _there with her_ during her sleepless nights. But, well, it was the only place he could seat in his room. The boy needs some fuckin’ chairs.

Also, it’s not like there could ever happen something between them, much less in that moment. He was older, he might see her as a younger sister, and she was just being a silly teenager with too many hormones.

“There you have it, big boy. You survived!” she said, after cleaning the injury and putting on a Band-Aid. “It wasn’t that bad, right?” she asked, and he frowned. She still could hear in her inner ear his complaints as she put the alcohol at the cut.

“Yeah, yeah… whatever you say,” he looked at the finger and pouted, and she had to look away. Seriously, hormones… could you just, like, stop? He looked so adorable she could kiss–

“You know, I’m very good with wounds and stuff,” she started to say, to keep those thoughts away. “When I was a child…”

“You were?”

“Shut up! I’m speaking,” she didn’t need a reminder about how he thought about her. “I was saying, when I was younger me and Bran used to climb everywhere, and of course we would fall sometimes and get hurt, but we couldn’t go to our house and tell mom what happened because she would scold us, so we learned to do this to each other…” it was hard to think about her brother before the accident, and of course her eyes started to wet. Stupid feelings.

She had told him before about her brother’s accident, and how he spent weeks in a coma before waking up, just to tell them that he couldn’t feel his legs. They already knew, doctors had warned them about it, but you can’t be ready to see your little brother as he screamed after figuring it out.

He put his hand on top of hers and she felt electricity running through her nerves, so she pulled away. He looked at her, confused, but then shook his head and smiled at her.

“I’ve never told you about my mother, right?” He asked, and she chook her head “She used to work in a bar in King’s Landing, it was only me and her, and when I would get sick or hurt she would sing to me to make me feel better”.

She smiled, fondly.

“What happened to her?” she wanted to know, and he sighed.

“She died”, her smile dropped. “Pneumonia, I was only ten. Then I went to live with a foster family until I became fifteen and a guy called Jon Arryn came and asked me if I wanted to work for Baratheon, and I accepted just to leave that stupid place”.

He didn’t mention the other boys would bully him and call him names, she didn’t need that part of the information.

“I’m so sorry, Gendry. I didn’t –” He cut her.

“It’s okay,” he smiled. “My finger is better; do you want to go fetch something from the kitchens with me? I’m ravenous.”

She nodded, and so they left the barn together to go to the kitchens, not knowing they wouldn’t have any other time together, as her parents were already planning their trip back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to let you know that english is not my first language, so I'm sorry if there are some mistakes. 
> 
> Also, I'm very grateful many people gave this kudos! This is my first time publishing something here, and this is my first Gendrya work, so comments are much appreciated to know what you think about it.


	3. Home Duties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years ago, Arya went with her family to spend their summer vacations in his father's best friend manor. There, she met the very tall stable boy, to whom she easily became close, spending most of her days going around the lands with him. But then, when the summer was over she had to go back home, not knowing if she would see him again.
> 
> Now, she is older, and her whole family is reuniting at home for the holidays... even Jon, who arrives with a friend who has a couple of beautiful blue eyes that bring back beautiful childhood memories to her, and other feelings that she isn't capable of contain anymore.
> 
> \------
> 
> Where Gendry is in her house, looking too good for her own sanity
> 
> Jon makes stupid questions, 
> 
> Gendry is glad he is not a carrot, 
> 
> and Arya feels like an stupid teenager again.

She was sitting at the stairs that went from the manor to the backyard, looking at Jon and Rickon playing with some lightsabers the eldest had brought as a belated birthday present for the boy –nerds-, and smiling then and there when both boys did some silly thing.

It was almost dinner time, her father was with Robb at his office having some video-call with some business associate, Bran was in his room, apparently talking with his girlfriend, and her mother and sister had gone to buy some clothes to wear in Christmas’ eve. She had declined the invitation to go with them saying she already had something to wear, when actually she didn’t, she just wanted to avoid _shopping_ with _them_.

“Isn’t it like freezing to death out here?” she heard his voice behind her, and smiled as he sat beside her. “You northerners are insane” he added, closing his coat until it would also cover part of his face. She laughed.

“We’re used to it,” she shrugged, still looking at her brothers. “Aren’t you studying in Castle Black? How you survive up there if you don’t like cold?”

Looking up at him, she found his eyes staring back at her.

She could feel her cheeks heating up, so she looked away and started to play with the snow next to her feet, feeling kind of embarrassed.

She heard him chuckle.

“Well, wearing a lot of layers help”, he replies, now looking forward. “also, staying indoors. I find the library very warm and comfy, so I go there very often when I’m not at work, even if Jon calls me bookworm all the time. Oh! and drinking whisky helps too, even more than coffee or hot tea”, he added, and she let out a soft laugh.

They fell into silence while she pushed snow off the stairs with her heel.

“You look… good”, he finally said, shyly. Suddenly, she felt like she was the thirteen years old girl, who was crushing on this older boy. Silly Arya, he is not interested in you in that way, he is just being nice.

“Thanks”, she replied, looking back at him. Bad idea, his too-blue-for-her-sanity eyes were looking at her with such tenderness she had to gulp. “You– you look good too”. Come on, Arya. You can do better than this. Said her inner self. “I mean, years have been nice with you, there’s still hair on your head”, she joked the tension away, and he took his hand to his very black hair, messing it up.

Arya.

Control yourself.

“Yeah, I think it has,” he laughs, and then looked back at Jon and Rickon, who were now laughing, throwing snowballs to each other. “Your brothers interrogated me about how we met”, he tells her, and she felt the corners of her lips going up.

“And? What did you say?” she asked, and he shrugged.

“The truth… that I was working at Storm’s End when you went there for vacations, and that you harassed me until I had no choice but to become your friend” she elbowed him, and he laughed.

“I didn’t harass you” she complained.

“If you say so, M’lady”, he teased, and she elbowed him harder, just for calling her like that. Jon looked at them when he heard his laugh, and frowned, but then continued playing with the younger Stark as he didn’t want to get into their private conversation.

There was still something she couldn’t understand.

 “How is it that you are going to Castle Black?” she asked, and suddenly she realized what she had asked. “I mean, it’s not like you don’t- you know, but it’s very expensive, I mean… you deserve it very much, but-” _stop there before you screw it big time, girl,_ her inner self told her. But he didn’t seem to be offended, he was just laughing. “Sorry” she whispered, looking down ashamed, and he put his hand on her shoulder so she would look up back at him.

“It’s ok, I understand”, he said. “It’s a long story, though, and I’m pretty sure they’re about to call us for dinner”, he added, and she nodded.

“We could talk later,” she replied, and he smiled.

“We will talk later”.

 

Dinner was going nicely, her parents had greeted Gendry, and told him to feel at home,

“So, Gendry, how’s Robert doing?” her father asked the black-haired boy, and he seemed to be taken aback, as he looked back at him.

“He’s good, I guess” he replied, looking uncomfortable. “Myr is making sure he takes his medicines. I will go there to check before classes start again” he added, with some sort of grimace she couldn’t truly understand, and her father nodded.

If confusion was a person, that would be her.

Her grey sight found his, and he might have read on her face all those questions that were running around her head, because he softly mouthed a ‘ _later’,_ and then went back to finish his dinner.

Arya couldn’t do the same. Why would her father ask him about Robert Baratheon? Why he knew so much about his employer health issues? How much her father knew about him? Did they talk when they were at the Storm Lands? And, more importantly, why does he mention Myrcella like they’re very close now? A pinch of jealousy made her make a grimace as she looked back at her dinner, and as she listened (but not really) the conversation between her siblings and her parents.

 

Jon stopped her at the hallway when she was going to her bedroom to take a shower, asking if they could talk, and she nodded and walked to the kitchen with him.

“So, where did you and Gen met?” he asked, as she sat at the counter and opened the box with cupcakes she had bought earlier. She tilted her face, looking at him in disbelief, as she knew he had already had asked Gendry about this.

He’s trying to check the accuracy of his response, she guesses.

“We met at Storm’s End. You know, that summer you and Robb abandoned us to go to party with your friends in Essos”, she decided to scold him to change the topic. It worked, though, but just for a couple of seconds.

“It was Theon’s birthday”, he explained, and she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, the whole summer” she fired back, sarcastically, and he shrugged.

“It’s Theon”.

There, he had a point.

“But, we are talking about you and Gendry”, her cousin said, taking a cupcake, and then taking a bite. “Oh my God, I missed these so much!” he added, with his mouth full. She smiled and took one for herself.

“Well, there’s not much to say”, she starts, peeling the paper from it. “I met him at Storm’s End and we became friends. He was much more interesting than Sansa and those Baratheon’s children, and Rickon was just a babe, and Bran was more interested in books”, she shrugged it off. “Gendry was really nice, and saved me from dying of boredom”, she added, and her cousin let out a soft laugh.

“Then, I should thank my friend for saving my cousin’s life”.

“Well, you know, he was my friend first”, she replied, possessively. He raised his eyebrows and looked at her like she had declared it a war.

“But he has spent more time with me”, he fired back, and she had to hold herself not to kill her own blood there at their kitchen.

He punched his arm, though, and he groaned like a baby.

 

She couldn’t find him that night, neither during breakfast, so she started to think he had left without saying goodbye. But then, her mother told her that the boys had left very early fetch some groceries for the Christmas eve dinner, so she calmed down.

They would still talk, she just had to be a little bit more patient.

She spent most of the morning in her bedroom, watching some stupid/cheesy Christmas movie on Netflix, and then tidying it a little bit so her mother wouldn’t kill her the day before Christmas eve.

 It was almost lunch time when her brothers and Gendry came back from the town, and she looked at them from her window as they took the groceries out from the trunk of the car, waving when Robb noticed her.

“We can use some more hands!” shouted her older brother, and she smiled.

“Mine are too small, wouldn’t be much help!”, she shouted back as an excuse, and saw Gendry chuckle, as he helped Bran to get on his chair. Jon was heading to the door with Rickon behind him, both of them with their hands full of groceries.

She went down, though, and helped them to put everything in the cupboard and then make the lunch, as most of the help had gone to spend the holidays with their families. Her father says that with six children at home to do the house chores, they shouldn’t keep their employees away from the people they love at such special day. Arya thinks he is right, but still hated doing home duties, though helping to cut the vegetables when someone else was cooking was really nice.

“Impressive” she heard his voice at him and smiled, turning to face him, the knife still on her hand. “And lethal”, he added, looking at the utensil she was holding. Her smile grew bigger as she followed his sight.

“So, you like my chopping abilities?” she asked, going back to work at the vegetables, he leaned his back at the counter next to where she was working.

“I do,” he replied. “And I’m glad I’m not one of these carrots”, then added, stealing one of the pieces she had already chopped.

“Hey!” she complained, but couldn’t stop him before he took it to his mouth. “You keep stealing and you will meet the same fate as these carrots”, she turned to face him and threatened him with the knife. He raised his hands in surrender, and after some seconds they both started laughing.

She continued working after calming herself down.

“So, how’s that you’re not helping?” she asked, and he shrugged.

“Your mom won’t let me” he said, with a huge grin. “She says I’m the guest, that she already has enough children to do what’s needed”.

“That’s unfair” Arya protested, and he shrugged.

“I would help you, but I can’t contradict your mom”

She frowned at him.

“Oh, _see how things have changed_ ”.

There was a moment of laughter between them, and Sansa, who was in charge of cooking their lunch, had to go pick the carrots up from the counter, as she didn’t listen her when she requested them. It was like the whole world around them had just disappeared, and there was no one else but the two of them. She turned around to continue her work, but noticed the carrots were gone, so she looked something else to chop.

He helped, though, getting stuff from the highest drawers (taking advantage of the moment to mock about her height) and helping her to open the gherkin jar. “It’s all in applying the lever principle with your hands” he had said, but she was too busy looking at his flexed muscles to even care about his explanation.

He was helping her to put some things back to the cupboard, when she remembered something he had promised.

“You told me you would tell me later”, she said in a whisper so Sansa wouldn’t hear her. He looked back at her, looking for a couple of seconds like he had forgotten, and then widening his eyes when realization hit him.

“I’m sorry, last night you were with Jon and I didn’t want to interrupt, so I went to sleep” he explained, also whispering. “I want to tell you everything, just… not here”, he added, and moved his mouth to point at where Sansa was with it. She agreed, it wasn’t the right moment, or the right place, so after everything was settle he excused himself to go check on Jon and Robb, and she stayed there, staring at his back as he disappeared from her field of view.

She felt her sister getting closer, standing beside her.

“you like him”, she said, it wasn’t even a question.

“I don’t–” she started saying, but Sansa cut her off.

“We might not get along that much, but I can recognize when my little sister is interested in some boy”, she smirked, and then started to walk to the door. “And, if you ask for my opinion, I believe he likes you too”.

Arya snorted.

Yeah, right… as if.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this chapter.
> 
> As I said before, english is not my first language so you might find some mistakes (?)
> 
> Thank you for your comments and kudos! They mean so much for me.


	4. Father Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years ago, Arya went with her family to spend their summer vacations in his father's best friend manor. There, she met the very tall stable boy, to whom she easily became close, spending most of her days going around the lands with him. But then, when the summer was over she had to go back home, not knowing if she would see him again.
> 
> Now, she is older, and her whole family is reuniting at home for the holidays... even Jon, who arrives with a friend who has a couple of beautiful blue eyes that bring back beautiful childhood memories to her, and other feelings that she isn't capable of contain anymore.
> 
> \------
> 
> Where Gendry and Arya have a pending talk,
> 
> we learn more about Gendry's relationship with his father,
> 
> Arya is definitely deadly
> 
> and things are heating up a bit between our heroes.

Staying with the Starks had been really fun, as the family seemed to get along very well, and enjoy their time together. He thought about the day Jon asked him to go there with him to spend Christmas with his family, and about how he considered to say no, as he wanted to avoid the cold north for those few days before they had to head back to classes. It would have been a huge mistake, as he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see her again.

He has always known she was Robb’s sister and Jon’s cousin, ever since he moved to the apartment they shared at the campus, and saw the pictures of the three of them together with the rest of their family. But, somehow, he tried not to think about it, mostly because he thought she had long forgotten about him.

She hadn’t, and he felt stupid for thinking she would.

But, there was a problem: ever since he saw her again, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was gorgeous. Back in the day she had only been thirteen, so in his head there wasn’t any thought about her that could seem slightly inappropriate, but now she was a grown woman, and every part of his body recognized it, flooding his nights with thoughts that haven’t been anything innocent.

He was thankful he didn’t have to share room with neither of her brothers.

It was almost midnight when he decided to stop rolling on his bed, trying to drive away the thought that kept coming about her, and go to the kitchen to get some water glass from there. But, when he opened the door of his bedroom, she was there. 

His jaw dropped.

Was he dreaming again?

She wasn’t wearing a silk and lace night gown, like the ones he had imagined on her body during his dreams, but a very comfy cotton pajama, accompanied with a fluffy dressing gown. But, somehow, she looked even hotter than in any of his fantasies. What was wrong with him?! He closed his mouth, and shook his head trying to focus on saying something.

“What are –” his throat felt so dry, so he had to clear it. “What are you doing here?” he got to say at least, looking around to make sure there was no one around, and taking her by the wrist to make her go inside, before closing the door.

“You promised we would talk later”, she said, like it was the most obvious thing.

“Couldn’t it be, I don’t know, at a time and place that wouldn’t ensure my premature death if your father and brothers learn about it?” he asked, trying to be chill, but failing. She was there, in his room, and he surely is using all his self-control to not look at her body. “We could have met at the gardens tomorrow, after breakfast”.

She looked at him for a while, rolled her eyes, and went to sit on his bed. ‘ _No, please, don’t do that’_ he thought, looking away.

“Never thought about you as such a prude”, she sang, with a soft laugh, laying down on the bed and looking at him.  “Come on, I need to know the whole story”, she did that thing with her eyes that could break all his defenses. He sighed.

 _‘Okay, you can do this’_ he told to himself as he sat on a chair. VERY far from the bed.

“I got a scholarship for Mechanical Engineering”, he explained, and she frowned. It was nice to see her confused just for once.  “My– I mean, Mr. Baratheon knew about the bike and told me he thought I was very skilled, and that he had friends at the school’s directive committee, so he could give my application for the scholarship to them”. 

“And you accepted it? Just like that?” she asked, in disbelief.

“No, I told him to fuck off” he replied, and she started to laugh, though tried to keep it low, maybe so as not to wake up her family. “I don’t like receiving charity from anyone”, he snorted. “But he insisted… he said he wouldn’t pay for it, just help my application to get to the right hands. That I should take my opportunity to be more than just the guy at the stables, and after almost a week thinking about it, about what my mum would want for me, I accepted”.

“And you got the loan”, she said, with pride.

“I did, it seems like I’m actually really good at something”, he smiled. “But I still needed a place to stay, so Baratheon asked your father if I could stay with Robb and Jon… and then–”, he shrugged.

She frowned, and he knew why.

It was well known that Robert Baratheon was not the kind of person to do nice things for other people, much less for a poor boy who had no family or anything else, so why would he bother to help him, the stable boy? He looked down. Back in the day he had asked himself the same question, and thought it had been because his recent divorce had made him want to do some good to compensate all the bad things he had done in the past, but knowing the answer hadn’t been any better.

“He’s not paying anything, the scholarship comes with an aid to pay basic needs as food and a place to live, and I got a job near the campus so it’s all on me, I guess”, he explained.

“And you’re still going to Strom’s End? Why?”

“Because it’s the only place I have known as home”, he said, before taking a deep breath. “And, because–”, he gulped, and looked away, not sure if he could say this looking at her. “Because Robert Baratheon is my father, I’m his bastard son”, he let out, and then his sight went back to Arya, finding shock in those beautiful grey eyes.

This might be the first he had let her speechless.

 

“I can’t believe it…” he had said that night, sitting in the chair in front of Baratheon’s desk, looking at the papers that proved the man in front of him was actually his father.

It was his second summer after leaving his job at the stables and going to study at Castle Black. Baratheon had made sure he knew that he could always go back there to spend his vacations, and that his place would still be there for him every time he went back, so he kept doing it.

The first two years at school had been amazing. He met many great friends, including the Starks, with whom he was living. Although, Robb would graduate the following year. He found a part-time job in a book store near the campus, to keep up with the cousins' party life, and his grades were really good, which helped him to keep the scholarship. So, coming back to this place he only expected to spend some times with the horses and prepare for the next semester, not learning that his past employer was actually his father.

“I’m sorry I should have told you earlier” said the man who obviously had been drinking the night before, trying to reach at his hand from across the desk.

He pulled it away, getting on his feet, and walking around the place as his body couldn’t stay still in a moment like this.

“How long have you known? How did you know I was your…?” he couldn’t get himself to finish the question.

“Jon Arryn” the older man explained, and their sights found each other, so Gendry could identify the exact same shade of blue of his in the eyes of Baratheon.

‘ _The same exact eye color, the same exact hair. You look exactly as an old friend when he was younger_ ’ Arryn had told him when they met at the foster house, and only now he understood he was talking about Robert Baratheon.

“I had just learnt, because of a test I did to my children when the doctors told me I had leukemia, that they weren’t actually mine”, Robert had started to explain. “I– I was devastated, I had been lied for so long by Cersei… that I just…” he looked away, at the bar he had in the room. “But then, Jon told me to come with him to Storm’s End during the weekend, ' _to have some fresh air'_ he said, and suddenly I saw this young lad who looked like I did when I was younger… It couldn’t be a coincidence, and it wasn’t. Some guy had told Jon about a woman who had once said she had my child, and after digging a bit he found out she was death, but that her child was in foster care. So, he brought you here”, he finished.

Gendry couldn’t stop walking around.

“Jon did the test without us knowing, he needed to confirm it so there was no doubt, and there isn’t… you are my son, I don’t even need this test to know it”.

He stopped and looked at the old man. He wished Jon Arryn was there to tell him that this bullshit was all a lie, but it was impossible, the man had died a year ago from a heart attack, while in his sleep. Suddenly, he thought about his mother: her beautiful blonde hair, her sweet voice as she sang him his favorite song, and asked himself how such an amazing woman could have ended fucking with the asshole he had in front of him.

“At least, you remember her?” he asked, being suddenly hit by a wave of fury. “Do you know what her name was? How she looked like?” Baratheon’s silence answered his questions. “Then you are not my father, a fuck doesn’t make anyone a father”.

He turned on his feet to leave, but Robert’s voice stopped him.

“I’m sorry”, he said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there, I’m sorry I don’t remember her” he sighed. “Because of your age I guess it was around the time the woman I used to love died, and I know there’s no excuse, but–” he took a moment to continue. “I barely remember what I did those years. I was drunk all the time, hooking up with a different woman every night. Hell, there could be many like you...” both men looked at each other, Gendry felt his blood boiling inside him.

He didn’t want his apologize, he didn’t care how many women this old dude fucked, he just wanted to leave that place and never see Robert Baratheon again.

“Look, I don’t expect you to accept me as your father, I just thought you deserved to know the truth”, Robert finally said, and he nodded. He had preferred to stay in ignorance, it would make things much easier, but he also values honesty above all.

“Aye, thanks”, he replied and then stormed out.

He didn’t leave Storm’s End that night, he was too exhausted to drive, but the next morning he took his bike and some of his stuff from the barn and drove back to Castle Black, to the apartment he shared with the Starks.

 

For almost a year he didn’t go back to the manor… he had nothing to do there. Robb and Jon knew everything about his father being Baratheon, because he just couldn’t keep it from them, and so they understood when he preferred to stay up in the north during their vacations.

But, some night, he got a call from Myrcella telling him that she and Tommen were alone at the hospital of King’s Landing with Robert, and that they needed him there. Apparently, their father needed an urgent bone marrow donation, and none of them could give it to him.

That’s a very fucked up way to learn that you’re actually not your father’s children, he had thought that night, as he printed the plane ticket his not-actually-siblings had bought for him, no one deserved that.

“Mom really never cared, and Joffrey said he wouldn’t come even if he was really our father, so it’s only Tommen and I” Myrcella explained him, as they sat at the cafeteria after he had done the whole procedure to donate some of his bone marrow to try save the life of the man who donated the sperm so he would be created.

 It was only a fair exchange, just that.

“And you, of course. Thank you very much for coming, Gendry, we thought–” she let out a soft weep. “we thought there was no hope, that we would lose him without any chance of doing something… but then I found your blood test when I was looking around his papers, and suddenly there was an opportunity”.

He didn’t know how to deal with _emotions_ , especially with comforting someone who was crying… much less in his state of dizziness after the anesthesia, or the fact that his fucking back sore as fuck. So, he just put his hand on top of hers, and squished it a little, receiving a sad but grateful smile in response.

Perhaps, he thought, he didn’t want a father who didn’t really actually cared about his possible existence, but it would be _nice_ to have a brother and a sister, even if they weren’t actually his blood.

 

Arya still looked at him with disbelief after he finished the whole story about Baratheon being his father and, somehow, he could perceive how in her mind she tried to make sense to everything he had told her.

It was kind of cute.

“So, you’re actually Robert’s son?” she asked.

“Yep”.

“And Tommen and Myrcella are your siblings? Well, kind of… not actually, but you get along with them like you were”.

He nodded. “Thanks for not mentioning Joffrey”.

“And my father knows all this?” she continued her interrogation, and he giggled.

“Apparently, Robert told him everything when he called to ask if I could stay with Robb and Jon in Castle Black”, Gendry shrugged. “And, well… he and your mother went to visit at the hospital when we did the bone marrow donation thing”, he added.

He still could see her frowning.

“So, in these five years many of my family member saw you, and I didn’t?”, she complained. “How unfair!” she added, pouting… Arya Stark WAS POUTING! He couldn’t help but laugh for a whole minute.

He stopped laughing when he noticed she wasn’t happy with him doing it, and put a soft smirk on his lips. “Sorry about that, M’lady”, he said, teasing, and she threw a cushion at him, hitting right in the middle of his eyes.

She was definitely deadly.

Arya got up from the bed, and the dressing gown opened a little, letting him see a little more of her legs. _Shit._ He looked away and tried to think in something else.

“And, how are the things now with Robert Baratheon?” she asked, looking around, and he internally thanked for her giving him something else to think about.

“We are… getting along, I guess”, he replied. “I’m still staying at the barn when I go to Storm’s End, even if Tommen tried to convince me to take any of the many empty rooms inside the manor. It just didn’t feel right, you know? But I share the table with them, and we have got to talk a little bit more”.

“Are you changing your name to Baratheon?”

“I–” he doubted. “I don’t know”, he shrugged. “It would be weird, wouldn’t it?”

“ _Gendry Baratheon_ , I like it. It has a good ring” she said right next to him, and he got paralyzed. She had been so quiet he didn’t feel her getting closer.

_Shit!_

He got up, in an attempt of putting a little bit of distance between them, but the movement was so fast and clumsy he bumped into her, having to take his hands to her waist so she wouldn’t fall backwards.

They stayed like that for a while.

He looked down at her, finding her grey eyes staring back at him, and a soft pink covering her cheeks. _Seven hells_ , he thought, _she is gorgeous_.

Carefully, he helped her to stabilize, but that only made their bodies to press against each other, making her blush to intensify as she bit her lower lip. _No, don’t do that, don’t fucking do that,_ he silently begged as she took her hand to his shoulders and then the back of his neck.

“Arya–” he muttered.

But, before he could do something stupid as kissing her, a hard blow on his window made them jump apart, maybe from some un-fortunate bird that got confused by the darkness around it and crashed into his window. She looked at him like she just had woken up from a trance, and then looked away.

“I have to… it's late”, she said, nervously.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, It is...” he replied, not looking at her. How could he? he almost had kissed her... she is Jon's and Robb's little sister, she is his _friend,_ and kissing her would have made everything very complicated. 

They stayed in silence for a couple of minutes.

“I–” she looked back at him. “see you tomorrow at breakfast, I guess…” he nodded, but didn’t say a word. She sighed. “Good night, Gendry”, she added, as she was walking to the door, opening it.

“Good night, Arya”.

He sighed as soon as the door closed behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this took so long, this month at work has been really hard, and I decided to change some thing from this chapter so I had to re-write it. 
> 
> { No birds were harmed in the making of this chapter. } 
> 
> English is not my native language, so sorry if there are some grammar mistakes, I tried to do my best.


	5. Winter's Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years ago, Arya went with her family to spend their summer vacations in his father's best friend manor. There, she met the very tall stable boy, to whom she easily became close, spending most of her days going around the lands with him. But then, when the summer was over she had to go back home, not knowing if she would see him again.
> 
> Now, she is older, and her whole family is reuniting at home for the holidays... even Jon, who arrives with a friend who has a couple of beautiful blue eyes that bring back beautiful childhood memories to her, and other feelings that she isn't capable of contain anymore.
> 
> \------
> 
> Where Rickon likes the young Mormont girl,
> 
> there's some jealousy involved as Gendry offers to check Sansa's car,
> 
> last minute Christmas shopping goes weirdly well,
> 
> and Hot Pie's pastries are still the greatest.

The morning before Christmas Stark’s tradition was having breakfast all together at the big dining room they had for special occasions, and then they would go do whatever they had to do before Christmas eve, until meeting again for the celebration. So, after taking a shower and putting on some clothes on, Arya went down the stairs and greeted her family members who were already at the table.

Gendry was also there, she observed, but he looked as if he was avoiding staring at her. _Was it because of the events of the night before?_ She asked herself, looking down at her feet, as she sat opposite to him.

She still could feel it, as if time had receded and they were back at his room, her body pressed against his, and his breath softly caressing her face. She closed her eyes, trying to keep the memory with her, to make it last a little bit longer. Would have they kissed haven’t that sound interrupted them? Very likely, but that didn’t mean it would be right, was it? He seemed to regret it, otherwise he wouldn’t be avoiding her, something that, somehow, brought sadness into her heart.

“What’s wrong?” her cousin’s whisper next to her ear made her jump, and after a few seconds she looked at him, trying to show him her most convincing smirk.

“Nothing”, she said, and she could see he didn’t believe her. She sighed, giving up. Jon was the person who knew her the most. “I’m just tired, couldn’t sleep last night”.

She wasn’t actually lying to her favorite cousin, she told to herself. Last night, her thoughts were so filled with Gendry and with what had _almost-_ happened in his room, that she just couldn’t close her eyes for a long time.

Jon nodded.

“I’m going down to winter’s town, I still have to buy a present for Ygritte because I couldn’t decide what to give her yesterday”, he said, in a low voice, so no one would hear him. “Do you want to come? You can help me choose something, and I can invite you to Hot Pie’s”, he added, and Arya smiled and nodded in agreement.

She always loved to spend time with her favorite cousin, something she missed since he went to Castle Black, so she was glad she could do it that day without the rest of their family being around. And, it’s not like she didn’t like spend time with her family, she really did, with some exception, but her time alone with Jon was special.

“Great, I will tell Gen you’ll join us”, he said, with enthusiasm, and she almost chocked before glancing at said, guy who was staring at his plate, still avoiding her sight.

She couldn’t say no now, right?

She sighed, and tried to continue breaking her fast, when her mother’s voice addressed them when she was taking a grape to her mouth.

“What are you two conspiring about?” she asked, and Jon just shrugged.

“I was just inviting Arya to come with me and Gen to Winter’s town”, he said, and that made Gendry suddenly forget about the piece of omelette he had been playing with for the last couplie of minutes, and finally glance at her with his deep blue eyes. He didn’t say a word, though.

“That’s splendid!” her mom said, with a smile that made her suspicious, like she had a plan and everything was going according to it.

Everyone seemed to agree.

“Oh, can I go with you?” It was Sansa, who was wearing a very nice grey dress and had chosen just some bowl of cereal to break her fast, who spoke. “My car is not working, and I told Theon that I would meet him for lunch before he had to go spend the night at his sister’s”, her face was a clear indication that she didn’t like her future sister-in-law much.

“I’m sure Robb can take you”, Jon said, but her older brother interjected.

“I can’t. I’m going to pick Jeyne and baby Ned at the airport”, he said, with a shrug. His wife and child were staying at her family’s hometown for a couple of weeks before the holidays, as they were going to spend New Year’s Eve in their first trip as a family of three at some nice lodge in Highgarden.

Arya thought it was cheesy, but cool.

“I just need a lift”, Sansa insisted, looking at Jon. “As soon as we are there I will go meet Theon, and he can drive me back home… I’m not going to crash your private party”, she finally said, kind of moody, and her cousin finally nodded, accepting to take her with them to the town.

Gendry spoke then.

“I can take a look at your ride later, if you want”, he offered to her sister, with a bright smile she wished was for her.

She wasn’t jealous, of course not.

“Thank you, Gendry. That’s really nice of you”, Sansa said, with a smirk.

If she wasn’t jealous, then why she felt her guts squirm at that exact moment?

She looked down at her plate, and took an apple, taking a lazy bite while supporting her chin with her other hand. Of course, he would offer to help Sansa with her car, her sister had always made guys to like her and do all kind of things for her, and he wouldn’t be the exception. And yes, her older sister had a boyfriend, but that didn’t change the fact that he seemed to be attracted by girls like her, so there was no way he would feel the same way about the girl who was the complete opposite.

What happened last night had just been the result of a moment of weakness after telling her about his father, nothing else, and she better put that firmly in her head before getting her hopes up and getting hurt from her own stupidity.

“And what are you two doing?” her father’s words took her from her thoughts, asking her younger siblings about their plans for the day, as he and his wife would go to the church as was tradition for them every Christmas eve.

Bran just shrugged and told him that the Reeds would pick him up to go for their traditional Christmas Eve presents exchange at the twin’s house, and Rickon told him that he was actually thinking about accompanying them to church, if it was good for them.

“Uh, is it because the Mormont girl is at the chorus?”, Bran teased, elbowing him with mischief painted in his face.

“No”, the youngest sibling replied, but turned as red as the apple in Arya’s hand.

“Awe, Rickon has a crush”, she decided to join Bran at the teasing, so she could stop thinking about her unrequired feelings.

“I don’t!”

“Now, everything makes sense” Jon joins in, with a grin. “That cute bear-shaped pin you bought yesterday was for her, right?”

“That’s a nice gift, very fitting for her”, Robb approved.

“She will love it”, Sansa agreed, and the poor kid seemed like he wanted the earth to open under his chair and swallow him.

Arya looked back to Gendry, who looked like he was both holding his laughter from the fraternal exchange, and feeling pity for her poor brother. But then his eyes met hers once again, but this time he didn’t avoided her, he looked back at her and let out a soft sight she couldn’t really decode.

 

Sitting in the front seat, next to Jon, who was completely focused on driving them safe to Winter’s town, she looked up at the rear-view mirror and saw Gendry and Sansa lively chatting about her car. He was telling her about some pieces he needed her to buy, as he was planning to spend the next morning -after the present’s exchange- working on it, and she was thanking him for his interest on helping her. She made a grimace and looked back at the road ahead, feeling livid, but she wouldn’t recognize that out loud.

Jon looked at her with a silent question in his eyes, and she shrugged. She didn’t want to explain him that she was mad because it seemed like Sansa had dazzled their friend, which had seemed to forget that he almost had kissed her the night before, in his room, and was completely ignoring her.

Her cousin frowned, but didn’t push harder. Instead, he put the volume of the music down and spoke to his friend without looking away from the road.

“Have you decided what to buy for your siblings?” he asked, without saying names, and Arya thought it was because Jon didn’t want to give away that Gendry was Robert’s son.

The black-haired guy stopped talking to Sansa, and looked at him.

“Not yet, I thought you could help me”, he said. “I might buy something for my father too”, he added, in an unsure tone.

That caught Arya’s attention, and seemed to surprise Jon.

“Really?” he asked, and Gendry nodded.

“I think I can’t get home with presents to my siblings, and not for him”, he said, with a shrug, and Jon agreed.

_Wait a minute._

“You’re going home?” she asked, looking back at Gendry, and he seemed to be so surprised by her directly talking to him, he took a couple seconds to respond.

“Yes, my sister called this morning”, he said. “They all are going home for New Year’s Eve, and they want me to share the night with them”, he looked at Sansa, not sure to say the rest while she was there to, as she didn’t know who his father was.

She understood.

“I wish I could accompany you”, Jon said, and Gendry laughed.

“Well, you can’t… can you?” he raised his eyebrows, and her cousin growled. He had promised to go visit his girlfriend’s family for New Year’s Eve, as her father wanted to show him so _true northern_ traditions for these holidays. If you ask him, Jon would tell you that he had preferred to go to a warmer place, and it shows as going to Storm’s End seemed to be more of his likes.

Arya smiled, even if she was feeling a void in her chest.

He was leaving after Christmas.

 

They met Theon outside the mall, where he had told Sansa they would meet, and as he and Jon were catching up she took Sansa by the arm and pulled her apart from the boys, so they couldn’t listen.

“What do you think you are doing?” Arya asked. “You have a boyfriend”.

Sansa looked at her like she had grown another head.

“Well, that’s actually what I’m doing”, she replied, confusion still covering her face. “meeting with my boyfriend before he has to go to spend Christmas with his crazy sister”, she added. Arya looked at her, not believing how she could be so hypocrite.

“That’s not what I mean”, she said, trying not to scream to alert the boys. “What was that thing with Gendry at the table, and then at the car?”

Arya looked back, making sure no one had listened her.

There was a wide grin at Sansa’s lips when she looked back at her.

“You’re jealous”, she told her. It wasn’t even a question, so Arya didn’t reply. “Don’t worry, little sis, I have no interest in your boy. None at all. And, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me like _that_ either, so you can chill a bit. He is just helping me with my car”, the red-head looked at the boys, and then smiled.

“How are you so sure?” she couldn’t help asking, and her sister looked back at her.

“Because he likes you, but I already told you that”.

 

Sansa left with Theon to have their romantic evening. So, she, Gendry and Jon were left alone to make some last-minute Christmas shopping.

For Ygritte, Arya helped Jon to choose a very nice leather jacket with rock bands pins, one she knew the wild girl would absolutely love, as they both had a very similar taste for music. They had met only a couple of times since her cousin and her started to date, but they had connected immediately, as the red-head saw her Spotify account.

She spent the time while waiting for Jon to pay looking around the store, and saw some nice pair of sun glasses she would have to buy later for herself, as she had a plan: buying something for Gendry to open in the morning. She looked at him as he scrolled through some shirts, possibly trying to find something for his siblings and father, looking as lost as she would be in one of her mother’s tea parties.

“Do you need help?” she asked, approaching him.

He jumped, he didn’t see her getting closer.

“I–” Gendry looked at her, and then back to the clothes in front of him. “I have no idea what to buy for any of them”, he admitted, and she saw defeat in his eyes, so she decided he wouldn’t let him alone in this task.

“Well, Myrcella used to like flowers”, she said, thinking about the girl who always had one on her hair. “I saw a beautiful Orchid shaped brooch over there” she said, and pointed at one of the alleys. “And Tommen… he is good friend with Bran, I know they play together online, and read the same books, maybe I can text my brother to ask him what we could get for him, or maybe buy some funny shirt, he likes those too.

He nodded, as he was taking mental note of everything she was telling him.

“Robert, on the other hand… I have no idea what to give him”, she frowned. “But I think, whatever you give him he will like it”, she said without doubts. She could tell, even if Gendry tried to say otherwise, that Robert Baratheon cared about his son, because there would be no way he would do all he has done if he didn’t.

Of course, Gendry said he did all that because he felt guilty, but Arya knew best. Robert Baratheon is not the kind of people who felt any guilt.

At the end, they found the brooch for Myrcella, and Bran replied her text telling her about some book the youngest Baratheon wanted to buy but hadn’t done yet. Arya made his brother promise he would do anything to keep his friend from doing it that week. And then, for Robert, Gendry found a Warhammer shaped keychain that reminded him to some painting he had seen in Baratheon’s office at Storm’s End, where a man was heading to battle wielding one of these over his head, so he picked it.

Arya smiled as he went to pay for the presents, and went to look for something she could buy for him. But, what could it be? She looked around, trying to remember the things he had told her about himself, and then she saw it.

It was a scale motorcycle, that looked exactly like the one he was repairing in his barn, just very much smaller. She held it on her hands, looking at it with a soft smile on her lips, remembering those old days.

She had to buy it.

Trying to pass unnoticed, she arrived to the cashier to pay and to get the present wrapped, and didn’t relax until it was inside the big bag that didn’t allow anyone to see inside.

“I thought you had all your presents already”, Jon told her, as she met him outside the mall.

Gendry wasn’t still there, so she just shrugged.

“It’s for Gendry, so please don’t tell him”, she said, and her cousin nodded. “Did you get all your presents already?” she asked, and Jon showed her all his bags. Ygritte’s present hadn’t been the only one he had forgotten.

“In my defense, it’s my thing to forget things”, he said, and she laughed.

“I hope you didn’t forget mine”, she said, and for a second there it seemed as if Jon had just had the realization that he actually forgot about her present, before starting to scream with laughter.

“You should have seen your face”, he said, wiping a tear from under his eye. “You really thought I would forget your present? It was the first one I bought”, he said, and she smiled at him, even if she was mentally planning his murder.

His had been her first present, too.

After a couple of minutes Gendry joined them, his hands holding several shopping bags as well, as he seemed to have bought some other presents for the Starks, and they decided it was time to go have lunch at Hot Pie’s.

 

The restaurant was their favorite place in Winter’s Town, hers and Jon’s, as they always went there when they wanted to run away from any even that her mom would have organized at their home. It’s mostly a bakery, but with time they had added other stuff to the menu, and the owner’s son –from whom the place had got its name) was one of her pals from high school. She smiled at the chubby guy who was behind of the counter, attending another client.

“Same as always, just add an extra piece of each”, said Jon, as they walked to their regular table, and Hot Pie nodded. “And a black coffee for this one”, he added, palming Gendry’s back as they took their seats, Gendry next to her, and Jon in front of them.

They stayed in a comfortable silence, until Jon broke it.

“So, have you thought what you’re going to do after this May?” he asked her. Her graduation was in five months, and she still had no idea what she was going to do after that, so she just shook her head.

“I’m backpacking in Essos while I figure it out”, she told her, feeling Gendry’s sight on her. “You know, during summer vacations”.

“Sounds like a nice plan”, her cousin nodded. “Are you going with someone?” he asked, and she bit her lips. She thought about telling her friend Edric Dayne to go with her, but the boy seemed to have feelings for her, and she didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. He was a good friend, and she wanted to keep their friendship, not making it complicated or destroying it having to reject him.

She shook her head.

“I think I’m going alone”, she said, and her cousin frowned.

“It’s not safe, Arya”, he said, slowly.

“Why? Because I’m a girl?”, suddenly, she felt violent. “I know how to take care of myself, and I happen to have good friends at the continent that could show me the surroundings and give me guidance”, she argued.

“I know you do, I’m just–” Jon stopped suddenly, and took a deep breath. “You’re right, you’re old enough… forget I said anything”, he said, and just then Hot Pie arrived with a tray with different kind of pastries, three of each one, and their drinks.

Gendry’s was a black coffee, Jon’s an earl grey tea, and Arya’s a double caramel cappuccino. They went silent again, while starting having their drinks, and when she was about to grab a cinnamon roll her hand crashed into Gendry’s, who apologized and took another thing from the tray.

She still could feel the heat of his skin there where it had touched hers.

Another silence.

“I’ve never been at the continent” suddenly, Gendry said.

Arya looked up at him, and noticed he was smiling down at her. She was certain her heart had skipped a beat. What was he trying to do? She asked herself, but then she heard Jon’s voice, telling him that he would love it, and she knew it. He was trying to ease things between her and her cousin.

“Yeah mate, you told me the parties were wild”, he said, winking at her, and she felt her face warming up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't know how long this will be, but I'm doing my best to figure out where this is going (?).
> 
> Thanks to those who have left kudos and comments, I really appreciate some feedback as this is the first time I publish something here in A03!!.
> 
> And, again, english is not my native language, so sorry if there are some grammar mistakes.


	6. Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years ago, Arya went with her family to spend their summer vacations in his father's best friend manor. There, she met the very tall stable boy, to whom she easily became close, spending most of her days going around the lands with him. But then, when the summer was over she had to go back home, not knowing if she would see him again.
> 
> Now, she is older, and her whole family is reuniting at home for the holidays... even Jon, who arrives with a friend who has a couple of beautiful blue eyes that bring back beautiful childhood memories to her, and other feelings that she isn't capable of contain anymore.
> 
> \------
> 
> Where Catelyn doesn't like food to get wasted,
> 
> Robb is an old man,
> 
> Gendry shares a little bit more about his childhood years,
> 
> and things heat up a lot during Christmas Eve.
> 
> \------
> 
> So, I wasn't expecting this chapter to make me change the rating to explicit, but I guess I got a bit carried on... so you are warned about it. 
> 
> Also, I hope you enjoy it, and I'm sorry for taking so long to update.

Gendry let himself fall on the couch, a long moan coming out from his mouth, as he felt so full he was sure he was about to burst. Beside him, Robb and Jon did the same, while the rest of the Stark family started gathering around the living room, enjoying their time together.

It was a nice view, he thought, he never had a family to enjoy the holidays with when he was a child.

He shouldn’t have eaten that much, he knew that, but he couldn’t say no to Miss Stark when she offered another piece of turkey, or a second piece of pie. He didn’t want to insult her, or make her think he didn’t like her cooking, so he just nodded and thanked her, before filling his plate once more.

“I can’t move” said Jon next to him, his eyes shut.

“Me neither” he admitted, with a grunt.

“Mom doesn´t like food to go wasted”, it was Robb who spoke this time.

“So, we eat it all”, Jon added.

“And end up like this every fucking time”, his cousin finished.

“At least this time we had you”, Jon patted Gendry’s leg, and Robb agreed.

He smirked, and looked around the room.

Robb’s wife was talking with Sansa next to the chimney, both with a glass of wine on their hands, and laughing at some comment Jeyne had just made. Rickon was typing on his phone, with a very bright smile peeking out his face as he did (Gendry considered the possibility that things had gone great between him and the Mormont girl, and she was the one on the other side of the conversation). Brandon was also there, on his wheelchair, with a book in one hand and a mug with hot cocoa on the other. The Stark’s parents were cuddled on the patriarch’s chair, looking very peaceful while looking at their children, and Arya, (a soft smile grew on his lips as he saw her), she was playing with her little nephew on her lap.

He stared at them for a while, smiling when the boy's chubby hands reached her nose and she wrinkled it.

She was gorgeous, he thought, as she laughed because the infant had thrown himself at her arms, his arms too short to surround her even if she was very petit. He let out a soft sigh as she put the kid away and kissed his forehead. How would it feel to have her lips against his skin? The thought came so fast for him to suppress it, and made him look away to avoid thinking about Arya’s lips, and how soft they would feel, or how sweet they would taste.

“What’s wrong?” Jon asked, and he looked at his friend and shrugged.

“Nothing, I’m just thinking about having to get up from here” he lied, avoiding his sight.

Jon let out a soft chuckle. 

“Then don’t” he suggested, but then noticed his uncle calling him, and he let out a grunt while looking at his cousin. “Robb, go see what your father wants”, he told him, and received a growl from the eldest Stark sibling.

“He is calling you, not me”, he said, and smiled as a defeated Jon walked towards his uncle and aunt.

Gendry smiled.

They stayed in silence, but then, after a couple of minutes, he noticed Robb snoring besides him, and thought it would be right to let the _old people_ sleep, and went talk with the Stark he actually wanted to share this moment with.

Arya looked surprised as he sat at the floor next to her and the little kid.

“What are you doing?”, she asked, looking around.

“I came to speak with you”, Gendry shrugged. “Jon is with your parents, and your brother is no longer a talkative companion”, he pointed at the male version of sleeping beauty that was deep in his sleep on the couch, and Arya rolled her eyes and laughed, and then looked down at the baby on her lap.

“Your poor father got old” she said, with a bop on the infant’s nose.

Gendry agreed with a nod, even if she wasn’t addressing him.

 “So, you’re about to graduate from school?” he asked after a couple of minutes in whose no one said a word, and saw her nod, still looking down at the little boy. ‘ _Look at me, please_ ’ he begged, internally. “That’s cool, I mean…” he cleared his throat. “Going to High School, getting all these experiences as school dances and graduation ceremonies”, he said, and then she finally glared him, confusion painted in those beautiful gray eyes.

“You didn’t do all those things?” she asked him, and he shook his head.

“I did School online”, Gendry told her. “I was always moving from a foster house to another, and then to the Storm’s lands for work, so it made it a whole lot easier”, he explained with a half-smile.

“And your graduation?”

He shrugged at Arya’s question. “I got the certificate by mail” he explained her, and saw her smile slowly fade. He didn’t want that, so he just tried to change the topic by bringing up how great was the place they went to eat at the town was, and she seemed to appreciate it.

“Hot Pie is a good friend from school”, she explained him. “I think is the only real friend I have there”.

“That’s a very weird name to put to your child”, he commented, and she laughed.

“Well yeah, his parents are bakers. I think they wanted something original”, she looked up at him, and he felt his heart racing when he got drowned on those gorgeous gray eyes. He sighed, and looked away, feeling as if he didn’t have any right to look at her like that.

The babe started to cry, and that brought them out of their dreams, as Jeyne approached them and took the little infant from his aunt’s arms.

“Someone’s hungry” said the woman, as she walked out the living room holding her child.

Gendry looked at her as she disappeared.

He knew her from Castle Black, she and Robb where dating back then when he moved in the apartment both cousins shared at the campus, getting pregnant right after they finished their careers, when they had just moved back to Winterfell, where Robb had an insured job in his father’s company. Sadly, their wedding was rushed, and in the middle of the semester, so he couldn’t be there to accompany his friend in such a big say.

 

It was around midnight that the room started to get emptier. First, the Starks’ parents excused themselves to go sleep, then her younger brother used the same excuse to leave to his bedroom, though Arya was sure he was going to spend the night playing video-games online instead. After his departure, Jeyne had come back to wake her husband and make sure he went to sleep in their bedroom instead of the couch, and then Bran had also left the room to go have some rest, asking Sansa to wheel him, as she was also leaving to bed. Jon was the last one who excused himself, telling Gendry and Arya he was going to facetime with his girlfriend.

“I can walk you to your bedroom” he said, when she yawned.

“Wow, you’re such a gentleman!” she jested, and he shrugged.

“Only for you, milady” he teased. She made a grimace at the nickname, but then let a mischievous smile appear on her lips, and softly punched his shoulder.

She remembered.

“Don’t call me that”, she said.

“I thought that’s how you call rich girls”, he replied, still teasing.

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t know many rich girls, do you?” the questions came as she stood. He did the same thing. “And you perfectly know I’m not like that”, she added, and then saw him nodding.

“Apologizes”, he said, and then they started going up the staircase.

He looked at her as they walked in the hallway, glad he was behind her so she couldn’t see him staring. She looked gorgeous. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans that accentuated her perfect legs, and a warm wool sweater, too big for her petit form. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, so he could see the skin of her nape, that was calling him like the song of a mermaid. How would it feel to leave a kiss there? He would only have to lean a bit to press his lips against her skin. “ _STOP IT!”,_ his mind reminded him, and he shook his head. “ _She is your friends’ little sister”_.

Suddenly, she stopped walking.

“So, this is my room”, she said, signaling at the door on her left. He nodded. “Thank you for walking me here”.

“My pleasure”, he replied, but neither she walked in, or he made any attempt to leave her alone at the hallway.

They stayed in silence.

She pressed her back to the mahogany door.

He had a lot of things to say, but they didn’t come out from his mouth. He wanted to ask her about the night before, know if what he felt, that electricity running through his body when they got closer, the impulse of close the centimeters in between their bodies and take her lips with his, where only in his head. She sighed and bit her lower lip, as if she could read his thoughts, and looked right to his eyes.

“I’m sorry” Arya said, and he frowned.

“What for?” he asked, not knowing what to do with his own sweaty hands, so he hid them in his pockets.

“For last night” she sighed. “I shouldn’t have gone to your bedroom, it wasn’t proper. I mean, I understand if you’re angry about that, I–”.

“I’m not”, he interrupted her. “I’m not angry about that… or anything, not with you. I mean, we talked, didn’t we? I wanted to tell you about…” he motioned his hands, like saying _all the fuckin mess that is my life_ , before sighing. “And I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to do it in front of your whole family”, he added, looking at his feet.

Another minute of silence.

“Then why were you avoiding my gaze at breakfast?” she asked.

 _She has no idea_ , he thought, sighing. She didn’t notice the fire increasing in between them as they got closer, she didn’t feel it, if she had she would have known why he couldn’t lay his eyes on her then the next morning.

“I wasn’t” he lied.

“Yes, you were”, of course she would be stubborn about that.

He stayed in silence. How could he explain to her how hard it had been for him to look at her the morning after spending the whole night dreaming with her? her lips, her nude warm body pressed against his, her moans as he would adore every single millimeter of her skin with hands and lips? No, he couldn’t, he would scare her off.

“I –”

“Was it because that thing that almost happened… you know, before the sound from the window?” She cut him, and he swallowed, hard, giving her the answer. “You felt it? That pull? I wanted you to kiss me then” she confessed as she got closer, tentatively. He closed his eyes, because that grey gaze was going to make him burst, and then felt her hand on his chest.

“I can’t do that, I’m much older”, was his only response, and heard her chuckle.

“I’m eighteen years old already, Gendry, and you are only five years older... That’s nothing”, she replied. “And you’re acting like a baby, so I would be the old one here”, she teased, and it was his turn to chuckle.

He opened his eyes, and found her face so close he could just take her lips if he bended a little. The air left his lungs.

“Robb and Jon would kill me”, he put out another of his self-excuses, the one he had been repeating in his head the whole day.

 “I can handle them” her hand reached his face, and he bit his lips as his eyes went to hers. They looked so soft. Fuck! He wanted to kiss her so badly, he wanted to close the distance and breathe her in, feel her in every part of his own body.

“Arya –” he started saying, but suddenly her hands went to every side of his face, pulling him down, before putting their lips together.

At first, he was taken aback, he didn’t expect her to take the lead, but after a couple of second his brain caught up and he started kissing her back, as his hands went from his pockets to her waist, pulling her closer.

Their lips parted for a second, as they caught a breath, and then it was like they would have thrown fire to gasoline. He captured her lips again, desperately, while one of his hands hold her against his body and the other traveled all the way up her back and sunk in her hair. She moaned against his lips, and he smiled, feeling her hand grabbing the fabric of his shirt, wrinkling it.

A soft giggle came out from both their lips.

“let’s go inside”, she said, breaking apart from him and walking backwards towards her room, looking at him in a way that made everything inside him shiver.

His feet moved him towards her without a conscious order from his brain.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, when the door closed behind him.

She licked her lips, and nodded.

“I know I’m not a beauty like Sansa, but–”

He came closer to her before she could say any other word, his hands at both sides of her face, making her look directly into his eyes. How could she say that about herself? He would kill anyone who would say to his face that Arya Stark wasn’t beautiful, that would compare her to her sister. Of course, Sansa was very attractive, she was a freaking high-fashion model, but Arya… she was many things more.

“Don’t ever fucking say that again, you’re _gorgeous!_ ”, he said, fury letting the word slip out of his mouth. “Of course, I like you, why wouldn’t I? I haven’t been able to take you out of my mind since I saw you again, I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about kissing you, and it’s been a fucking quest not to touch you the whole day. Seven hells, it’s being a hell of a torture not to kiss you out there at the hallway before you did it!”.

He could see the surprise on her face, and knew he had spoken a little way too much, but he couldn’t let her believe for a second that she wasn’t worth.

“I’m the one who doesn’t deserve any of this”, he said, his thumbs caressing her cheeks. "I’m just the bastard son of Robert Baratheon, who grew up in poverty, lived in foster care for years, and used to work at the stables to survive. Your family would… they would never–”, he closed his eyes and shook his head. “You deserve someone better than me”, he concluded, and every word felt like burning iron against his throat.

He tried to pull away, but her hands around his waist stopped him.

“First of all, from what I’ve seen, my family loves you”, she contradicted him, as he opened his eyes. “Though, if we want to avoid uncomfortable stares tomorrow, we better keep _this_ for ourselves _._ For a while, at least”. He nodded, agreeing. “And, I don’t care who your father is… you could still be the stable boy and I would still want _this_ with you, idiot”, she added, pulling him closer to remark her words.

He stared at her eyes, and he could see the reflection of his own emotions. She liked him, just as much as he liked her, and that was a new feeling for him. He got closer, feeling her breath tickle his face, and softly brushed his lips against hers, earning a groan from them as she stood on her fingertips and took her arms to his nape.

And it was all he needed.

His lips found hers again, softly at first, slowly turning into a passionate kiss as his hands went to her back, under her top, caressing her soft skin.

“ _Gendry-_ ” she whispered his name, as her hands started unbuttoning his shirt, softly caressing his chest on her way up after accomplishing her task, making him shiver as she approached her shoulders and pushed the sides of his shirt off of him.

His lips abandoned hers, but only to leave a path of kisses down to her neck, where he sucked and bit, hearing her moans against his ear. His hands got to the hem of her sweater pulling it up until both it and her shirt abandoned her body.

He pulled apart, only to see the result of what he had done, and enjoy the view of her chest only covered by the thin fabric of her bra.

“Gods, you’re gorgeous” he said, out of breath, and noticed her cheeks turn red.

“Shut up, idiot” she said, pulling him back into her embrace, and crashing her lips back against his.

Any thought abandoned his head then, and he pressed his hands on her back, feeling skin meeting skin, before walking backwards towards her bed until the back of his legs touched the furniture, and felt her hands pushing his chest, making him fall sitting on the mattress. She smiled down at him as she started unbuttoning her jeans, pulling them down her legs until she was left only with her undergarments.

His mouth went agape, and it felt as if his brain had stopped working.

She came closer and sit on his lap, her legs kneeling at each side of his thighs, and he looked at her with devotion, his hands holding her hips.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” he had to make sure, and she chuckled.

“I’ve never been surer about something in my life”, she replied, and then her lips found his again and every thought was forgotten.

His hands went upward her back and approached the clasp of her bra, unhooking it, and taking the garment off her body and throwing it somewhere next to the bed. She shivered when his hands went to her sides, caressing over her ribs, before taking her breasts on his hands, stroking the pink tip with his thumbs.

“ _Gen…_ ” she moaned against his lips, and her hands went down his chest to his pants, unbuttoning it, helping him to get rid of them. They smiled at each other, before his lips slipped down her throat, until it found one of her breasts, and she had to bite her lips to avoid a loud moan, as her hips started moving, making him grow harder against her crotch.

“Fuck… Arya.” he groaned, and his fingertips sank on the cheeks of her ass, as his lips became more erratic against her breast, biting, sucking. She silenced another groan against his shoulder, as he felt warm liquid soaking her knickers. Her hands went now to the hem of his underpants, pulling them down to free his hard length, and taking it with her hands, pumping it, making him harder.

He hissed, feeling like he wouldn’t last much if she kept doing that, so he took her hands off of himself and before she could complain he rolled them on the bed, making her lay with her back on the mattress and he on top of her.

 She bit her lips and gave him the playful smile as he leaned to kiss her again, taking her hands to his nape and pulling him closer.

“I need to be inside you” he mumbled in between kisses, and she chuckled.

“Then be” she replied, pulling his briefs down further with her feet, making them abandon his legs and fall on the floor.

“Protection?” he got to ask, and she shrugged.

“It’s ok, I’m on the pill” she said, her hands playing with his only possession from his life before starting working in Storm’s End: a simple bull head-shaped charm, hanging from his neck by a silver chain. He sighed.

“You sure?” he asked, and her big grey eyes shone, making him feel like the air had abandoned his lungs.

“I am”, she said, pulling him from the chain, and taking his lips.

He moaned, his hand going down her body, caressing every inch of it until he found her knickers. First, his hand stroked her through the thin fabric, feeling it get more and more wet, and being rewarded by her repeating his name in soft groans against his lips. And then he moved it away, his fingers tracing her lower lips, touching her at places that made her hips raise and her lips repeat his name in between moans.

“Gendry, please…” she pleaded, and he took his hand from her crotch and pulled the last piece of fabric down her legs, positioning himself in between her thighs.

“Look at me”, he demanded, and she did it. Her eyes were darker, like steel. He smiled, and pushed himself inside her, feeling her warm tightness surrounding him.  “Arya-” he breathed her name out as he pushed further, and she responded surrounding him with her legs and pulling his face to hers until their lips met again.

He kissed her softly, his tongue exploring every millimeter of her mouth, as he started to move inside her, slowly at first, but then speeding up as they felt the heat of their bodies increase. Her fingernails marked their way down, he could feel them, until they sunk in his lower back. His own hands held her shoulders as he pushed harder inside her and felt her lips going down his body to kiss and bite his shoulder blade. And then, he could feel her when she reached her own pleasure, his name on her lips as her insides tightened around him, and he couldn’t hold it anymore, hiding his face at the mattress to muffle the loud grunt that came out from his throat.

 

He woke up before dawn, darkness still making impossible to see anything outside the window, so he still had time to get back to his room before any Stark could find him in Arya’s bedroom. But, still, he couldn’t get himself to move. She was beside him, her bare body pressed against his side, her legs tangled with one of his, her head using his arm as pillow. He sighed, looking at the ceiling, a soft smile on his lips.

Hours ago, he had spent a sleepless night thinking about having her in between his arms, and now… now she actually was there. Or was he around hers? He chuckled and rolled his body to face her, putting his arm over her waist, burying his face in her hair and taking a deep breath, loving the smell of it.

He wished he could wake up like this every morning, but knew that… for now, it was almost impossible.

Closing his eyes, he stayed like that for a while, remembering how after making love for the first time, they had cuddled on the bed, covered by the fluffy comforter, until their kisses and touches led them to a second time, this time slower, each taking their time to memorize every inch of skin from the other.

After a while, some light started to appear on the other side of the window, so he sighed, trying to free himself from her arms, but her embrace tightened.

“Don’t leave” she demanded with a sleepy voice and her eyes still shut. He chuckled.

“I have to” he replied, but didn’t try to move away. “Your family will wake up soon, and I’m pretty sure they don’t want to catch me on my walk of shame”.

She groaned.

“But you’re so warm” she said, hiding her face on his chest. “The bed will be cold without you”, she added, and he felt his own body react at her legs rubbing against his. He sighed, trying to control himself, as he caressed her arm, and then her shoulder.

“I don’t want to leave either” he confessed, looking at her eyes.

“Then, stay” she pulled herself closer to him, her nose rubbing his.

“I can’t, Arry” he used that nickname she loved the most. “But we can meet later, go somewhere you like... just the two of us. What do you say?” he asked, and she smiled and nodded, now playing with the charm of his necklace. He could stay for a couple of minutes more, right? It was very early yet. Though, he was almost sure Miss Stark would be awake in no time. 

“What does this mean?” suddenly, she asked, showing him the charm of his necklace, and he looked at it for a while before looking back at her eyes.

“I made it myself, my first foster father did metal work and taught me one thing or two” he told her. “The kids there used to call me bull, because I was bigger than other kids my age, and because I was stubborn-”

“You still are”

He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I made it to show them I didn’t care about their stupid nickname, and I guess it stayed as part of me”, concluded, looking down at it with a soft smile, and she used her arms to lean and get closer to make their lips meet again, slowly, as if they had all the day to stay there. But, eventually, he pulled away with a groan. “I really don’t want your family knowing about us sleeping together”, he said, and she laughed.

“Okay, stupid, you can leave, if that’s what you want” she finally said, untangling herself from him, letting him leave the bed, and looking at him with lustful eyes as he picked up his clothes from the floor, and put them on.

Fully dressed, he approached the bed again, and bent down so that his lips met hers again. She eagerly kissed him back, circling his neck with her arms, not caring how the comforter slid to reveal her bare chest. _Fuck_ , he wanted to touch her again, but there was no time for that, so he stepped away with a groan, and sighed.

“See you later, Arry” he said, and looked at her as she pulled the comforter up to cover her breasts. “And, Merry Christmas” he added, and she smiled.

“Merry Christmas to you too, Gen”.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the last one, but I've been thinking about making a series with this AU, so let me know in the comments if you would like it. Again, english is not my mother language, so there WILL be mistakes. I'm very sorry about that, I really tried to be careful but you never know. 
> 
> And, you can follow me on tumblr as @huffletiika.


	7. Everybody Knows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years ago, Arya went with her family to spend their summer vacations in his father's best friend manor. There, she met the very tall stable boy, to whom she easily became close, spending most of her days going around the lands with him. But then, when the summer was over she had to go back home, not knowing if she would see him again.
> 
> Now, she is older, and her whole family is reuniting at home for the holidays... even Jon, who arrives with a friend who has a couple of beautiful blue eyes that bring back beautiful childhood memories to her, and other feelings that she isn't capable of contain anymore.
> 
> \------
> 
> Where Rickon wakes up early for once,
> 
> Gendry and Arya exchange Christmas presents,
> 
> repairing a car evolves to something else,
> 
> and our heroes get the approval from more than one Stark.
> 
> \----------
> 
> So, this is it... this is the last chapter of this story. I really hope you like it.
> 
> It's a little bit of a mess with the storyline, but I hope you get to catch the sequences.

Arya was sitting on one stools at the garage, looking at Gendry as he worked in Sansa’s car, and somehow, she felt herself back at those times when she used to do the same exact thing in Storm’s End, as he worked on his bike.

She had felt jealous when he had offered to work on her sister’s car, but after last night’s events, there was no reason to feel that wait, and instead she felt grateful for the opportunity to check on the blue-eyed man, who had made her moan the whole night before, as he worked –shirtless –on the vehicle’s motor. She bit her lips, noticing the scratches her nails had left on his sweaty back.

At least, no one was out there to see them.

Her parents, Robb, and Jeyne had gone to a lunch party their company always hosts for their employees and families during Christmas day, Jon took her younger siblings to Winter Town (something about an annual tradition they had), and Sansa was babysitting little Ned inside the house.

 “Do they hurt?” she asked him, making him look at her with confusion, until he seemed to understand what she meant.

He shrugged. “A bit”, he said, looking at the door of the garage as if to make sure no one was near to hear, and then back to her. “But, if those are the hazards of getting laid with a she-wolf, you will never hear me complain”, he said, his lips pulled upwards in a mischievous smile.

She couldn’t help the heat she felt in her lower belly. “Stupid”, she said, shaking her head and letting a chuckle scape her lips, as he went back to work at the very expensive car her sister owned.

 

That morning she hadn’t been able to go back to sleep after he left her room, so she took a quick shower to erase the smell of sex from her body, and put some clothes on (joggers and Jon’s old soccer shirt from when he was at the institute), before walking downstairs to the kitchen, making some coffee for herself, and greeting her mother when Catelyn Stark joined her a few minutes later, already dressed for the day.

“I’m surprised you’re already woke” her mother told her, as she put some water to heat so she could make her tea. “Usually, it’s hard to tell if it’s going to be you or Rick the last one to leave the bed”.

She smiled.

“It’s Christmas, don’t be surprised if you hear Rickon storming down the stairs in a few minutes too” she said, and her mother chuckled.

Growing up, her relationship with her mother had been hard. Catelyn Stark had expected her younger daughter to be as well behaved and proper as a lady: that’s how Sansa had been, and how she and her sister had been at their younger ages, but soon noticed that Arya was wild and untamable, and didn’t know how to deal with the chaos that was always following her only child who hadn’t inherited her auburn hair. That pulled them apart for a while, her little girl preferring to spend her time with her father, her brothers, and even her cousin, leaving Catelyn thinking she hated her.

But, time had passed, and it helped both to put their walls down… and actually talking, making the matriarch of the Starks understand her daughter a bit more, and them to grow closer.

“Touché”, her mother said, smiling. “And what’s your excuse? You’re not actually the kind to wake up early for presents”, she added, raising a brow at her.

“Something woke me up, and I couldn’t go back to sleep”, she shrugged, as her brain brought images of said _something_ that had woken her up, going around her room naked, retrieving his clothes.

Arya hoped her mother couldn’t notice the soft red on her cheeks, and was glad when she just nodded and sat next to her with her cup of tea.

For a couple of minutes, mother and daughter shared a comfortable silence, sipping from their own cups, until the overly-enthusiastic and high-pitched voice of the younger Stark was heard as he screamed “Presents!”, followed by laughter from other members of the family. Her mother had raised her brows in her direction, and Arya had just shrugged before following her to the living room.

There, Rickon was kneeling next to the tree, already checking the names on the presents, Robb and his wife, with their child in her arms, were taking a seat in one of the couches, Sansa was walking to their little brother to tell him to wait until everyone was there, and Jon was coming downstairs, Gendry just a few steps behind him, looking really hot with dark jeans and a blue Henley jersey with its long sleeves rolled up, that made his overly beautiful blue eyes pop. 

_Fuck_

She had to look away, otherwise she would jump on him there in front of her whole family, when they had agreed to keep this just for the two of them for a while. And, instead, she went to sit next to her brother and good-sister, feeling his eyes following her.

Not long after, her father entered to the living room, pushing Bran on his wheelchair, and they started giving their presents.

Arya had gotten a beautiful nightgown from her sister, a mug with ‘ _best other-sister_ ’ written on it from Rick (Sansa got the ‘ _best sister’_ one), a travel’s guide to Essos from Bran, who knew about her plans for after finishing school, tickets for her favorite’s band concert from Robb and Jeyne (she was definitely taking Hot Pie), money to buy _whatever she wanted_ by her parents, and a new epée from Jon, as she was at the fencing team in school, that she was already calling Needle.

She was caressing the blade when she felt him sitting at her side, his smell making her whole-body shiver, even before he spoke a word.

“I have a present for you”, he said, and she looked at him, putting Needle aside. “It’s no big deal, but–”

“Give me the damn present, Gendry” she cut him, and he chuckled before taking a small rectangle from his pocket. She grabbed it, taking a few moments before ripping the envelope. He seemed nervous when she was observing the small jewelry box, and seemed like holding his breath when she opened it, revealing a simple yet very beautiful bracelet, with two charms: one of them was an _A,_ and the other, a very detailed wolf. “It’s beautiful” she said, looking at it in awe, and then up to his eyes.

“I’m glad you like it” he said, with a shy smile.

 

She looked down at the bracelet around her wrist, a soft smile on her lips, as she remembered his face when she gave him his present, his eyes lighting up, whispering a soft _“you remember”_ while softly stroking the smaller version of his bike… the one he had to sell a year ago, he told her, to buy something more suitable for the climate up there at the end of the world.

She noticed how he almost leaned down to kiss her, stopping mid-way (possibly, as he remembered they were at the living room, surrounded by Starks) and awkwardly pulled apart, looking around to see if anyone had noticed it, sighing with relief when he saw her family involved in their own conversations without paying attention to them.

“If you’re going to be there staring the whole evening, can you at least be nice and pass me the spanner that’s on your left?” he said, getting her out of her thoughts, and she got off the stool and did as he asked. “Thanks, beautiful”, he said, taking his head from under the hood, and whipping his hands with a piece of cloth, before taking said tool.

She smiled up at him, but then couldn’t help looking down at his bare chest, and _hells…_ she wanted to touch him. He might have noticed her arousal, because then he was leaving his work aside, coming closer, and taking his hand to both sides of her face, making her look up at his eyes. The deep blue of the sea met melting steel, and she felt her legs tremble, as memories of the night before made her exhale a low moan. Suddenly, they had come closer until their lips met, his hands stayed in place, but hers went to his chest, drawing roads with her fingertips, down to his stomach. He groaned against her lips, and she softly giggled in response.

He was the one who broke the kiss so they would catch some air, but didn’t pull apart, resting his forehead against hers, and softly brushing their noses.

“When are you leaving to Storm’s End?” she questioned, not being able to look up at his eyes, glancing at her hand on his chest instead.

“In a couple of days” he replied, kissing her forehead. “I wish you were coming with me” he left another kiss on the tip of her nose, and she wrinkled it.

“I wish that too” she said, but her parents and her younger siblings were so happy when she told them she wasn’t going anywhere for New Year’s Eve, that she couldn’t break their hearts like that, much less to leave with Gendry, when they didn’t even know they were an item now. “I’m going to miss you” she hid her face against his chest, not bothering at the fact he was covered with oil and sweat.

“I will miss you too” Gendry replied, burying his face in her hair, taking his hands to her lower back. “But, if you want, I can make a brief stop in Winter Town in my way back to Castle Black” he suggested, and she nodded with approval.

“And I can go visit Jon for his birthday, and you can accompany him here for mine, if you want to…” she left a kiss on his chest, surrounding him with her arms. “And I can go up there for Spring Break, and we will be facetiming when we want to talk with each other” she looked up to him, and he smiled down at her.

“Sounds like a solid plan, I love it”, he replied, and then his lips were kissing her again.

This time they took their time, softly brushing their lips, and then exploring deep further. “ _Arya_ ” he grunted against her lips, pulling her closer, making her feel the prove of his arousal against her stomach. She grunted as well, taking one of her hands to his thick black hair, while the other stayed touching his skin.

 

She went inside the house with a stupid satisfied smile on her lips, as she walked through the building, towards her room. She needed to change clothes, as Gendry had told her she would be finishing with the car soon, so they could go for a walk around the Starks’ property. It sounded great, she wanted to show him everything, included the lake where she used to go to swim at summers with her siblings and cousin. However, her plans of a quick change were interrupted when whilst at the hallway she was intercepted by Sansa, who was looking at her with a mischievous knowing smile that she didn’t need in that moment.

“ _Shut up_ ” she said, trying to walk past her, but her sister followed.

“So, you and Gendry-” said the redhead, and she tried to ignore her. “I knew it! The way he was always looking at you, it was pretty obvious he had feelings for you too, and you didn’t believe me! You thought I was insane, but I wasn’t, so I deserve an apologize. How did it happen? Did he tell you? Was it you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Arya walked faster, but even in her high heels her sister was able to follow close.

“Don’t _I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about_ me, Arya” she said, when they approached her room. “I saw you two kissing”.

Arya’s hand paralyzed at the doorknob.

“You saw us _what_?” she panicked, looking around the hallway, as if someone could be hearing them. “You were spying us or…? Weren’t you supposed to be taking care of Ned?” she questioned her sister, and Sansa showed her the baby monitor in her hand with a wide grin. She knew she had won.

“He fell asleep, so I thought I could go see how my car was going, and ask you if you wanted a refreshment. You couldn’t possible imagine how I felt when I saw you and Gendry having a full making out session against my car… which next wash I will make you pay, by the way. So, stop the bullshit, and tell me everything” she concluded, and Arya kept her door open so she would come in.

“It’s not much I can tell” she finally said, walking to look inside of her closet for something to wear. “We talked, we confessed our feelings and then kissed” she shrugged.

“Ugh, I hate when you are so vague. Who took the first step?” Sansa sat on her bed.

“I did, he’s an idiot” she confessed, and the sound that came out of her sister’s mouth couldn’t be considered human-like.

“Of course, you did!” she chuckled. “What did you say to him?”

Arya sighed, knowing she would regret her next words.

“That I wanted him to kiss me” she closed her eyes in agony when her sister shrieked, and then walked to her and put her hand over her shoulders.

“I’m very proud of you, little sis” Sansa said, with a bright smile, and she felt her cheeks burning. “Now, what are those clothes you’re trying to find for?” the redhead looked inside her wardrobe, and notoriously pull a face at her fashion choices.

“He’s almost done with your car, so we are going for a hike” she confessed, and Sansa frowned.

“Ugh, you and Jon have the same idea of romance” she said, rolling her eyes. “Theon told me he and Ygritte usually go hiking very early on Sundays, and that they don’t come until past noon” she further explained, and Arya grinned.

“They probably go fuck in one of the caves, and that’s why they take so long” she said, and saw her sister almost chocking. She laughed.

“Arya, please… I didn’t want that image in my head” she started, scrolling through her clothes. “Also, don’t go have… you know, at some cave in our family’s lands yourself today, I beg you”

“Can’t promise shit” Arya teased, and then laughed at her sister’s shocked expression.

“Dearest Gods, give me patience with this sister you gave me” Sansa pleaded, and then rolled her eyes.  “Anyway, you definitely have to put these leggings on, your legs and ass always look amazing on them”. She gave her said piece of clothing and then started picking the rest of the attire, and Arya thanked her, still surprised for getting a compliment from her older sister.

 

He stays in Winterfell a couple of days more, in which they did their best to spend as much time together as possible without her family noticing there was a big change in their relationship.

That day, after he finished working on Sansa’s car they had hiked in the Stark’s lands, and she had showed him everything, from the tree she had fallen from when she was five years old, trying to hide from her mother, to that really nice lake where she, her siblings, and Jon (sometimes, Theon would do it too) used to go to bathe during summers, as other times of the year the water was too cold for humans to be able to bear it.

Though, once Robb and Jon played a prank on Theon, telling the Iron-born that he would never been considered as a Northerner if he had never bathe at the freezing waters of that lake. Needless to say, the idiot had spent the next two weeks with a cold, and her father had thrown the book at both boys for putting their friend in such risk to have a laugh. Her older brother and cousin had been very regretful, but she had had the best time.

Obviously, she and Gendry didn’t go into the water, but they had made out very passionately at the shore, with her sitting on his lap, and his hands going south into her jeans and under her knickers, making her want more.

At that night, she had sneaked herself into his room, and they had made love again, this time under the furs of the guests’ room’s bed.

The next day they had spent some time separated. Gendry went with Jon and Bran to Rickon’s football practice, while her mother wanted her to join her and Sansa to go shopping for the New Year’s ball they were going to attend. Arya hated the idea of doing so, but she was in a good mood, so she tried not to have an argument with her mother over clothing and change that.

Besides, when she arrived home from having been dragged across different stores in Winter Town by those two women, she found him waiting for her at the living room, and her day became much better in a blink.

 

“Don’t go” she said, leaving a kiss on his jaw.

They were sitting on the stairs to the courtyard, Arya between his legs, resting her back on his chest, as they watched snow fall.

He chuckled, and then looked down to her beautiful eyes in awe, before giving her a soft peck. No one was around. Jon had already flown to meet with Ygritte and her family, leaving Gendry the car so he could drive down to Storm’s End, and then back to Castle Black. Robb and his family had already left for their holidays, Sansa was out with Theon, and her brothers were possibly in their rooms playing video-games online, or reading a book. The first option being Rickon, and the second, Brandon. About her parents, she had no idea where they were. They weren’t at home when she woke up that morning, and haven’t come back home since then.  

“I wish I could stay, but…”

“But, you promised you would be there” she finished for him, and he nodded.

She sighed and leaned against his chest, hearing his heartbeat, and closed her eyes, feeling her whole-body wind down. She wished she could hear it every day, but knew that it was impossible, for now. She had to finish High School, and he had to go back to Castle Black to continue his mayor. He covered her with his arms, pulling her closer to his chest (if it was even possible), and she encircled hers around him, feeling him hide his face in her hair, breathing her in.

They stayed like that for a while. He would be leaving the next morning, and so she wanted to be with him as long as possible, even if it was just they holding each other while hearing their respective breathing.

When he freed himself from her embrace to go prepare everything for his road trip, she stayed there for a while, looking at the stars, and then walked inside the house, seeing her father sitting on his favorite chair next to the fireplace.

“Father,” she walked towards him, and sat on the armrest. “I didn’t hear you come in” she added, and he chuckled.

“Your mom and I didn’t want to interrupt your moment with Robert’s son” he replied, and she fell like she was about to faint.

Did her parents see them? Of course, they saw them! _Oh fuck!_ What did they think? Were they going to tell her it was inappropriate? Were they going to prohibit them seeing each other? Her mother could try, but she wouldn’t allow it. _Oh God,_ she didn’t want to start fighting with her parents, now that things were so much better with her mother. Her thoughts were interrupted by her father chuckling.

“You should see your face right now” he said, and put a hand over her leg. “Relax, my child… I believe Gendry is a nice lad, and your mother agrees. God knows how much I love Robert, he is my best friend after all, but I’m very glad his son is nothing like him… and I’m not talking about his appearance, clearly”.

She felt her soul returning to her body.

“Though, I must ask… has he been a gentleman?” he asked, and trying not to think about what they had done in both, his room, and hers, she nodded. Her father did the same, accepting her response, and then laughed. “Robert will love this!” he said, and when he saw her daughter’s confused expression he explained further. “He always wished for our families to join... and saw this particular dream fade away when Sansa broke up with Joffrey”.

“Joffrey is a prick, Gendry is nothing like him” she said, and her father nodded.

“I agree” Ned said, and after a couple of minutes both father and daughter started laughing, until they needed to catch some air. “Do you want to go?” he said, after a couple of minutes of complete silence, and she looked at him with confusion.

“Where?” she asked.

“To Storm’s End, with Gendry” he replied, and she felt her heart start beat faster.

“I want, but-”

“Then go with him” her father interrupted her.

“But, mother” she complained. “She wanted me to go to that fancy party, she even made me buy a dress, she will be very disappointed if I don’t –”

Her father laughed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your mother”, he took her hand and kissed the back of it. “And I’m sure you will enjoy wearing that dress in Storm’s End much more” he raised his eyebrow, and she fell herself blush from head to toes.

“I- I don’t know what to say, I’m… thanks dad” she smiled, brightly, and her father smiled too. “I… I have to go tell Gendry” she stood up. “And I have to pack, and…” she looked back at her father. “Thank you”.

He smiled, and rushed her to go.

“Send my regards to Robert when you see him” she heard his father say while going up the staircase.

 

The next day, when Jon’s car started with Gendry behind the steering wheel, she was sitting at the seat next to him, looking at her phone, programing the GPS and connecting the Bluetooth to the radio so she could set the playlist they had made last night, before going to sleep in each other’s arms.

She knew that soon or later they would have to take separate paths. But, for now, she was glad that they had a little bit more of time before that would happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok... first of all thank you for everyone who took some of their times to read this story... I know it's not perfect, but I loved writing every word of it.  
> The end is kinda open, in case I decide to do another story in this universe... if you want me to do it, please let me know in the comments.  
> I hope you liked this last chapter.


End file.
